Julian Assange’s newly formed Australian WikiLeaks Party (WLP) announced that if elected, it will immediately introduce a national shield law to protect a reporter’s right not to reveal a source, as current state-based shield laws are “inadequate.”

"Only a uniform shield law covering the whole Commonwealth is
acceptable," WLP spokespersons Cassie Findlay and Sam Castro
said. "Government agencies, at federal, state and local level,
are increasingly gaining powers to obtain information about
individual citizens.”

The proposed law is the WLP’s first major policy announcement
since it was formed as part of WikiLeaks founder Assange’s bid to
become an Australian senator in the September 2013 elections in
Victoria State.

The WLP plans to compete for Senate seats in Victoria, New South
Wales and Western Australia in the September 14 election, with
Assange running for one of the six Senate seats being contested in
Victoria.

Findlay and Castro explained that journalists need to have an
“unhindered access” to their sources so they could expose
corruption, waste and incompetence. "Uniform shield laws
legislated by federal parliament are the answer. That is what we
stand for and that is what we will fight for if elected. Effective
national shield laws go hand-in-hand with uniform whistle-blower
laws, particularly covering media disclosures," the
spokespersons added.

The move is WLP’s challenge to proposed federal whistleblower
laws, which they say fail to protect those who expose corruption or
government crimes: “The proposed laws are not only
unsatisfactory, they are a clumsy attempt by the major parties to
protect themselves from embarrassing scrutiny.”

In March 2011, the Australian Senate introduced federal shield
laws that recognize circumstances in which journalists do not have
to reveal their sources. However, they do not apply to public
service whistleblowers, the Australian reported. Court suppression
order against whistleblowers have continued after the laws were
adopted, mainly in Victoria State, where 270 orders were issued
last year.

The WikiLeaks Party submitted its registration to the Australian
Electoral Commission in April and has secured over 1,000 fee-paying
members, more than double the 500 members required for
registration.

Assange, who has been holed up in London’s Ecuadorian Embassy
since June 2012, is preparing for a tough remote campaign. If
elected Australian Senator, Assange still might not be physically
present at the Australian Senate if he remains trapped in the
embassy. Assange's running mate could sit in for the WikiLeaks
founder if he wins the race but is unable to leave the embassy,
where he claimed asylum in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden,
where he is wanted for questioning on sexual assault
allegations.

British authorities have vowed to detain him if he sets foot
outside of the embassy, in light of the European Arrest Warrant
issued against him.

The founder of the whistleblowing website believes that once
extradited to Sweden, he could then be re-extradited to the United
States, where according to his lawyers he is likely to face trial
and possibly even the death penalty for WikiLeaks' release of
thousands of classified US diplomatic cables.